With a series of manly grunts, comedian Tim Allen went from a simple stand-up routine to one of the biggest stars in the world.

Playing off the success of the family sitcom “Home Improvement,” where he played a man’s man obsessed with power tools and classic cars, Allen dove headfirst onto the big screen with hit franchises such as “Toy Story” and “The Santa Clause.”

In the last few years, Allen has made an effort to get back into his stand-up roots. He’ll perform a night of comedy at Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon on Friday, June 19. And fans of “Home Improvement,” fear not, he’ll be touching on the things that made him popular.

“Sometimes I’ll explain the grunt,” Allan said in a recent telephone interview. “It’s like doing old music. It’s like a singer doing a version of a song. Like just play a few bars of the song and move on to the new stuff. That’s kind of what I’m doing.”

Allen’s success didn’t happen overnight. It was a long journey that started in 1979 performing at comedy clubs in Detroit and stretched into the early ‘90s in Los Angeles, where he credits the 95.5 KLOS FM radio show “The Five O’clock Funnies” as giving him his big break. His stand-up Showtime special “Men Are Pigs” led to his first sitcom. All these years later, as Allen stars on sitcom “Last Man Standing” his current comedy act has evolved from talking about lawnmowers and making manly noises.

“The first go around was the basis for ‘Home Improvement,’” he said. “I built on that and grunted. But, now that doesn’t ring with me anymore. After a year of doing the new television show, nothing felt organic. It felt like I was being dishonest somehow, like I was doing it for the money. So I went out and worked a good year of stumbling around to find a voice.”

And part of that journey was realizing that Allen himself was funny, especially coming from the people who know him best. His brother told him that the family enjoyed his stories and jokes as they sat around the dinner table. Instead of trying to be a character and come up with specifically related material, all he had to do was be himself.

Recently, comedian Jerry Seinfeld made news by criticizing the world’s current culture—especially with college age adults—as being overly politically correct. Allen said he was surprised to see someone like Seinfeld stand up to point this out.

“The veteran comics I know, we’ve kind of had enough of this,” he said. “I do a lot of political correct sarcastic humor. It’s like holding sand in your hand; it changes with the generations. What was politically correct is not politically correct now. Especially in communist California. You have to get a handbook on what’s OK to say here.”

All this controversy makes Allen reflect on how other generations dealt with the same issues.

“I’m on the curmudgeonly side of things; both personally and on the show,” he said. “And certainly in my act. I look back longingly not on my generation, but my parents’ generation–where a handshake meant something. You think of this generation who went through the Depression and wars, they meant what they said.”

Allen currently stars on the ABC’s “Last Man Standing,” which follows the misadventures of a husband and father of three girls who works at a sporting goods chain. The show will enter its fifth season in the fall.

When he’s not on the set for “Last Man Standing,” Allen is hard at work at perfecting his stand-up act.

“All these little notes come to me,” he said. “I’ll make a note about the last show I did. As we speak I have a laptop sitting over on a desk next to me that compiles all the ways to get in. I want to blast the audience. I want non-stop laughter. I remember seeing Richard Pryor and sometimes George Carlin when I was a kid and they didn’t stop. There was no pause and wait for laughter; they just went on to the next joke.”

Allen said it’s the feeling that he gets from comedy that keeps him going after all these years.

“I find that to be a gift,” he said. “When you’ve seen great comics and just laughed for an hour. I love that. I love being able to watch it. I adore being able to be in an audience. But, what a gift to be able to do it. I get the pleasure of watching the audience respond. I get the enjoyment of the jokes, sometimes they’re funny to me. And everybody walks out a winner. I’m grateful I can do this.”

Tim Allen’s fame:

Tim Allen has achieved success in both television and film. More than 35 million people watched the series finale of “Home Improvement” in 1999. And, according to Box Office Mojo, the total box office for all of his films is close to $2 billion. Given the fact that Allen has become a big part of people’s lives with various projects, he is stopped by fans all the time who want to talk about his TV shows, “Toy Story” and the sci-fi comedy “Galaxy Quest.”

“Right now, it’s a mix,” he said. “Some people respond to ‘Last Man Standing,’ some respond to old clips of ‘Home Improvement.’ ‘Galaxy Quest’ gets this faithful group. Buzz Lightyear and Santa get their own group.”

Tim Allen on “Galaxy Quest:”

“I loved that experience,” he said. “I love all those actors. We all became very close friends over that. ‘Galaxy Quest’ was misrepresented as a kids movie. No one knew how to sell it. Kids missed the sarcasm and irony of it. Adults loved it. You didn’t need to be a sci-fi guy to enjoy it.”

His idea for a sequel:

“The Thermaians could come back,” he said. “They’ve been gone for a couple years. They can’t find a place to live. When they come back, they’ve only aged a couple of days, but we’ve aged 10 years. It’s perfect timing. They come back and still think we’re the heroes we were. And Sarris’ (the film’s villain) family is coming back and vengeful about their brother’s death.”

Timothy Guy is the Digital News Editor for The Press-Enterprise and PE.com. Working with reporters and editors, he looks for the best possible way to present stories online. He has worked at The Press-Enterprise since 2010 and has covered events such as the Coachella Music Festival, San Diego Comic-Con and Disney D23 Expo.

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